It seems Highlander fans have selective memory. Yesterday I went to the Brooklyn Cyclones-Little Highlanders game at the Richmond County Bank Ball Park in the Land That Urban Development forgot A/K/A Downtown Staten Island. Of course I was decked out in my Brooklyn attire because (a) the Cyclones are of course a Mets farm team and (b) I still consider myself from Brooklyn, I just happen to have a home in Staten Island and to tell you the truth I don’t know who Staten Islanders despise more Brooklynites who moved to the Island or Muslims but I digress. As I went into the ball park the Highlanders were leading the Mets 4-0 after a Mark Teixeira Granny against the suddenly ordinary Johan Santana. When the game ended the public address announcer comes on and asks for everyone’s attention. Now I’m thinking that since it was getting very dark and windy, looking as if a huge thunderstorm was on the way he’ll anounnce that  all the folks out in the open seating area should prepare to go to the concourse in case of severe weather, no that wasn’t the announcement. The big announcement was the Bronx Bastards beat the Mets 4-0 thus taking 2 of 3 from the Amazin’s.

Now a Highlander fan next me looks over and says “Well, now we know who the best team in NY is” so I say “We do? The season series  is now tied at 3 wins apiece” Mr.  Doodle Dandy (in his JETER 2 shirt of course. I swear to God, you can always tell the dumbest Highlander fan by what shirt the wear and it just seems like the biggest assholes wear JETER 2 shirts) looks at me and says “this is the only time they played each other this year” of course I say “Au contraire my simple minded friend, the Mets took 2 of 3 at Citi Field back in May” Then Mr. Doodle Dandy gave me the line of the day, week, month, year, decade and I’d add the century:

“I don’t pay that much attention to the team until October”    

STUNNING!!!!!  

By the way the SI Highlanders beat Backman’s Boys for the first time in this first three game series.

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Non-Mets fan ask all the time why do Mets fans put all the blame Jerry Manuel after every Mets loss? Well, we don’t put all the blame on Manuel and we don’t hold him accountable for every loss and last night’s 2-0 loss wasn’t his fault but he did make a big mistake by not letting Johan Santana pitch the 9^th inning. Santana could have just as wel given up Corey Harts walk off homer but if he did so what. Santana is the ace of the staff and he should be treated as an ace. Forget pitch counts this isn’t Little League you need to have a feel for your pitchers and the feel last night was Santana was in a great grove.

That’s the biggest drawback with Manuel, look how long it took him realize the GMJ stinks and that Angel Pagan was more than capable of being the everyday CF’er? He still hasn’t figured out how to use Jenry Mejia all he knows is the young arm should be here and not in Buffalo starting. Manuel also has this mental block about whoever plays 2^nd base must bat 2^nd in the lineup. He also forced fed Jose Reyes into third hole with disastrous results and finally put Jose back where he belongs in the 1 hole and low and behold, Reyes has responded. For reason known only to Manuel, he trots out Jeff Francoeur every single game with his unsightly .218/.278/.364 hitting line. How does Omar or even Jeffey Skill Sets sit by and let Manuel play this automatic out every single game? FREE THE ANIMAL JERRY I’M BEGGGGGGGGGGGGGGING YOU!!!!

The Mets should still be riding the wave of the last home stand as you head into Milwaukee that fields a dead team in a dead ball park with not just your Ace but one of the top pitchers in baseball who pitches a gem but comes away with nothing. That sucks as did Jerry Manuel’s decisions last night.

The Mets will be wearing NEW YORK CUBANS uni’s tonight as a salute to the Negro Leagues. The Mets wore these once before I believe and I love these uni’s. I wish they would make a third jersey like these instead of those ugly ass black ones.

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Well one thing the 2010 Mets aren’t lacking in is drama, with ex-Mets trying to school new Mets and the bullpen coach telling the Diva Closer to shut the fuck up and the manager’s job status as volatile as the Dow Jones this is becoming a lot of fun.

I remarked on Twitter last night that I wondered where R.A. Dickey leaves his shopping cart during games. Dickey looks like the guys you avoid at the supermarket who bring in cans and bottles for the nickel deposit. Dickey has been outstanding in these last two starts and a huge upgrade over the Ritalin Kid that’s for sure. Plus the Dickey jokes on Twitter never get old.

Speaking of Dickey, did you get a look at what has been reported as Evan Longoria’s manhood? If I were packing something like that it would be the picture on my drivers license. Most definitely NSFW

I saw the video of the squirrel that ran on the grass at Target Field during last nights Twins-Highlanders game. The squirrel really looked lost and confused as he ran around out of control to the point the game had to be held up. The squirrel, who was identified as Rocket J. Squirrel of Frost Bite Falls MN said he was looking for the Tony O’s Cuban Sandwich concession stand when he got disoriented, he claims with the ball park’ so new he was still trying to find his way around the place.

I am definitely getting myself an I LIKE IKE t-shirt

Nelson Figueroa is the first player in the history of professional sports to get screwed over by a team. Give it a break Nelly Figs will ya!

After the Mets defeated the Phuck Phaces last night I had the pleasure of talking to Bill Baer of Crashburn Alley a member of ESPN Sweet Zone blogs (as well as Baseball Prospectus Baseball Digest Daily and Heater Magazine) on my THIS CALL TO THE BULLPEN show last night. You can check out the podcast right there a Kranepool Society (see the player on the lower left sidebar) or at my show page at Blog Talk Radio or downloaded it to your iPhone, iTouch, or iPod at iTunes.

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Go to hit the road this morning for work as I have a training class to attended so I just want to send out a reminder that tonight at 10PM ET I’ll be hosting THIS CALL TO THE BULLPEN on BLOG TALK RADIO.

My guests will be Dave Payne and Aviv Blasbalg of Sox vs. Pinstripes. Dave is the Red Sox fan/writer and Aviv the Highlander fan/writer. We’ll look at the season so far for both teams and the race in the AL East and look ahead to the weekend series at Fenway Park between the two teams.

As always, if you can’t join us live you can listen later from our show page on BLOG TALK RADIO or right here at Kranepool Society (click on the widget on the lower left side bar)

Quick hits:

That was one tough game to watch last night between no one in the ball park (announced attendance was 14,350. They must have counted 350 in the seats and 14,000 driving by the ball park), Ollie with his walks and the offense stagnant, by 9PM I bailed not just because the game was dragging but it was time for 24. Just for one day, I want to be like Jack Bauer, I mean what could be better than to grab someone you can’t stand by the neck and say “Do you know who I am” and have them shit themselves.

Big Pelf went for an MRI because he felt tightness in his shoulder.   The MRI came out fine and Pelf said nothing to worry about. I guess when he books a flight to Birmingham, then I’ll panic.

First it was booing Santa Claus, then it was cheering as Michael Irvin was laid out unconscious on the field, then it was a jail at the Vet, then it was fans vomiting on children and now cops using stun guns on fans. Welcome to Philadelphia America’s Most Uncivilized City.

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I wonder who Mother Nature was more sick of, home plate umpire Mike Esterbrook or the inane droning of Joe Morgan but whoever it was, Mets fans thank her for the heavy rain that ended last nights Mets game and Big Plef’ heavy lifting pitching performance with a rain shortened win over the struggling Braves. For the Mets it’s about time they got a positive break and lost in this awful game was the fact the Mets swept the Braves, which should be big time news around these parts.

Pelfrey was not as bad as his line indicates; he was mostly the victim of Esterbrook’s tight as a fly’s asshole strike zone. If the game was on SNY instead of the steady in decline WWL (ESPN’s 2010 NFL Draft wasn’t even public access quality) we would have gotten the overhead view of home plate to see just where Pelf was missing. On the ESPN telecast it looked to me he was hitting the corners consistently.  

Of his 106 pitches, Pelf threw 61 of them in the first two innings, from the third to fifth it took him only 45 pitches to get through those frames. The ability to locate his fastball low in the strike zone and mix in the slider as well has been key for Pelf in getting ground ball out after ground ball out.

I haven’t verified this yet, but the rumor is when the game was called last night, Jerry Manuel sent Fernando Nieve to the bullpen to throw a simulated game. J-Man said he wanted to keep Nieve “sharp”.

A tip of the solid blue Mets cap to Caryn Rose (a/k/a Metsgrrl) for not only going to the game last night but for letting us know though her Tweets on Twitter, that the game was well attended even though on TV it looked like there was a major evacuation in Flushing. Seems now that we have a new fancy pants ball park, there are plenty of places to get high and stay dry. Whereas Shea, during a game in the rain your choice was get wet sitting in your seat or get wet standing in the concourse. I give anyone who went to the game last night a ton of credit as it was so cold and misserable last night in NYC, that I broke down and put the heat back on last night.  

The Hollywood Bums come to town starting tonight and the very hittable Hiroki Kuroda will start the first game of the series tonight against Ollie Perez. This game has the potential for both teams to hit double digits.  The Dodgers are statistically the best team in the NL but fall to the bottom in just about every pitching category in the league. The Mets have smacked around Kuroda every time they’ve faced him (0-2 one no-decision 10.1IP 23H 10.45 ERA) Ollie Perez has been OK Ollie so far this season but lets hope the outstanding pitching the starters have shown this past week or so rubs off on OP.

I hope you can join me tomorrow night at 10PM ET for THIS CALL TO THE BULLPEN on BLOG TALK RADIO. My guest will be Steve Slowinski of the DRAYSBAY site as we talk about the Tampa Bay Rays and their surge to the top on the AL East. I’ll have a recap of the Mets-Dodgers game as well and a look ahead to what is now a big weekend series with the Phillies. If you can’t join me live you can hear a replay of the show right here at Kranepool Society or at my show page on BLOG TALK RADIO.   

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I was able to go to last night’s game on one of those spur (or as Archie Bunker used to say “sperm” ) of the moment deals. My son was with his friends when one the boys’ dads called and said he had gotten tickets to the game from his job. My son called me and asked if we could go and I said “Giddy up! Let’s go”

First it was the latest I’ve ever left for a game, 90 minutes before first pitch. I’m usually in the ball park at least two hours before game time, but when the folks we were going with had to get home from work so, you do what you can do.

Now from my shack on Staten Island to $iti Field it’s approximately 23 miles. In a place like say, Bismarck North Dakota, a 23 mile trip may take 15 minutes but in the Greatest City on Earth at rush hour it takes close to 90 minutes. We got our seats just before first pitch.

Needless to say, I did not get to inspect my brick in the Fan Walk, but I did get a glimpse of the old Home Run Apple which looks like it has found the perfect home. We passed by the new McFaddens which looked awfully dark. The bouncers at the door, one really big dude who had a chin like a Jai-Alai Cestna, scared the shit out of me so I didn’t look sideways at the place or ask a question but I’ll pose it here to any of y’all who have been inside the place. I believe it’s open all year round and on non game days? If so, who in that neighborhood is going to frequent the place? Do they serve food or is it a joint just to get a load on?

We sat in Section 106 down the right field line, close to the field but we had these annoying Asian tourists in the five rows in front of us who felt the urge to take photographs during game action. In the first inning the crowd in the section just called out “Yo sitdown” but by the third inning it was the whole section screaming “SIT THE FUCK DOWN” which I guess were the magic words as all cameras were finally put away.

By the third inning I had seen enough of John Maine and decided it was time for the Shake Shack and Box Frites. Seeing that I was comped tickets and a ride to the game, the least I could do was offer a Shack Burger, Fries and a beer to my host. Even though the crowd was as large as any I’ve ever seen for a second game of the season, 90 degrees in April will do that (remember when the Mets used to do Second Opening Day ? Rodney Dangerfield was a guest one year when they did this promotion as the second game of the season gets “no respect, no respect at all”) and I’ll be honest if it were 35 degrees and windy, my ass would have been on the couch at home watching this game, but I digress. It only took an inning and a half to get my Shake Shack order and beer but to cart the provisions back, I looked like a contestant on “Minute To Win It”. It’s not easy balancing four burgers, four fries and two beers from the center field food court to section 106. But here is the best part of the night, as get to the steps of the section and feeling a great sense of accomplishment that I have not dropped nor spilled any of this fine fare, the usher…..opps excuse me…the Hospitality Attendant, seeing me struggle to get to my row has the balls to ask to see my ticket. I give this dolt a look and say to him “Are you fuckin’ kidding”? Now get this? This asshole is offended by my language. I tell him call a supervisor or a cop and as soon as I put this food down I’m coming back up to show you my ticket.  He then says “no that’s all right”.

After I eat my burger I go back up to tap a kidney, on the way back I find Mr. Hospitality Agent ( I wish I wrote down this guys name as I’d put it in this post, in fact because of this guy, for now on, whoever pisses me off at $iti Field will have their named printed on this site) and I ask him, “let’s look at the logic here, I have two arms full of food and drink, you know my ticket is in my pocket. Since my hands are occupied, how did you think I was going to get the ticket out of my pocket, to show you”? “And your not cute enough for me to let you put your hand in my pocket” All this guy could do was turn a nice shade of crimson. Now I could have stopped there but I couldn’t, I had to add, “Don’t you feel foolish”? What can he say or do? He can’t call a supervisor because he’ll look like a dope and he can’t argue with me because now I’ve got a posse backing me up all he could do was apologize. Asshole!

Oh yeah the game! Not only was John Maine ineffective, he looked very uncomfortable on the mound. Jerry Manuel can run this start through the spin cycle all he wants there’s no way he or the front office are not concerned with Maine’s start last night. His location on the majority of his pitches weren’t even close to hitting their target and it seemed every Marlin hitter started their at bat with a 2-1 or 3-1 count. I don’t think Maine ever topped 90mph on his fastball all night and the speed of his fastball and change was much different.

There’s not much I can add about the bonehead play by Fernando Tatis in the 7^th that ran the Mets out of a potential big inning. You have to know your home court. The backstop at $iti is not very deep but also, with your best hitter at the plate and two out, Tatis shouldn’t even think of running unless the ball went off the backstop and up the first base line. Bad baseball right there. Give Tatis some props for manning up after the game and talking to the press and admitting he fucked up.

That Tatis throw out at the plate, by the way, emptied $iti Field. There was a mass exodus complete with heads shaking and faces etched in disgust.

Hey Jenry Mejia, We’re not in St Lonesome anymore uh?

I know, I know it’s only two games but I’ve seen enough of Mike Jacobs.

Tough to kill D-Wright on the steal of second in the 9^th that set up the IW of Jason Bay. GMJ is about the only guy in the lineup besides Wright, Bay or Frenchie that gives you any confidence as a Mets fan to get anything done. How sad is that?

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Because I just bought ticks for Opening Day, Mets-Marlins April 5th at $iti Field.

Now as ecstatic as I am to have gotten tickets via the Mets.com early ticket sale offer, I’m surprised how fast I got the tix.

The pre-sale tickets started at 10AM but I had to go out and do my off day errands and did not get home until 12PM. I figured no way any opening day ticket would be available but I was very happy to see that date still available.

After I made my purchase, I started thinking about past seasons when you could never just log in and buy opening day tickets, those tickets were always held back as part of ticket packages or not released until the very last minute.

Now is that a good thing or a bad thing?  Does it say how much the fan base has soured on the team and the organization that OPENING DAY is not the hot ticket it’s been the past few years ?

Maybe it’s the cold slap in the face the Skill Sets need that guys like me and the other hardcore Mets fans are few and far between. Maybe this will send the message that you just can’t open the gates to $it Field and the congregation will come a runnin’

They got me and they will always have me no matter how bad a team they put on the field and no matter how much they treat me like a leper at the ball park.  Maybe that makes me a big Jack Ass, I won’t argue but instead of calling me a Jack Ass just call me METLE!

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Over at Metsblog, Matthew Cerone asks the question Should the Mets add a character race like the Brewers Sausage race or the National President Race?  Now to me, all these racing games at the ball park reek of the bush leagues but if the Mets were to have one at $iti Field why not use rats ?

First, this city is known for it’s rat population (4 legged and two legged) so finding rats to work cheap wouldn’t be a problem. There are also plenty of cats on 126th St who frequent the shop shops and sometimes meander over to the ball park so you could have a cat chasing the rats just to speed up the festivities.

Have one rat per boro.

The Manhattan Rat could have on a Brooks Brothers suit to represent Wall St

The Brooklyn Rat could be a hipster type who has just discovered Williamsburg and Greenpernt (also known as GreenPOINT)

The Queens Rat could be Hiram Monserate

The Bronx Rat could be decked out in a Highlander uni

And last but not lease the Staten Island Rat would have tons of hair gel and a humongous crucifix around his neck .

I’m sure Shelly Silver could find a way to have para-mutual betting on these contests.

5 days until pitchers and catchers

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  13 days until pitchers and catchers

Last night’s hour long PRO BASEBALL CENTRAL show, went by in a flash thanks our own Yankee-Doodle, Michael calling in and Matt Silverman coming on to talk about the ’69 Mets. Some of the topics I wanted to get to in the opening of the show got pushed back as I went on a bit of a Fernando Martinez rant, so I guess I’ll touch on those here.

By the way I got to see F-Mart’s AB last night with the bases loaded and two out in the Dominican Republic v. Venezuela Caribbean World Series game. Martinez did not get a hit in the AB but it was an impressive turn at the plate that lasted 10 pitches until he hit a foul pop that was caught by the Venezuelan right fielder.

I’m not anti-Fernando in any way; I just want the kid to stop acing like he’s a 27 year old journeyman who has never gotten a chance and be the 20 year old who plays so well this spring that he beats out Angel Pagan to be Carlos Beltran’s understudy.

Looks like me and Orlando Hudson have something in common; we both will never play second base for the Mets. So after all the debate about second base for the Mets what’s done is done, Luis Castillo is the Mets second baseman for better or worse till death due us part (or until Reese Havens can prove he can play at the big league level) for 2010.

What is the under/over on how many times Gary Cohen or Howie Rose say “Just out of the reach of Castillo, for a base hit” this season? Let’s set the number at 75.

The last place in the world I thought I’d ever see the name Municipal Credit Union would be on a ball park marquee.  I wonder if those of us with accounts at MCU will get a discount on Cyclones tickets.

I’m very happy for Nelly Figs and his great performance the other day for DR in the Caribbean Series but it wasn’t like he was pitching against the Phillies or Highlanders, it was against Mexico and 45 year old  270 lb Vinny Castila, The Big Fajita!

Maybe things are not as bleak for the Mets as we think. FOX has the Amazin’s scheduled for broadcast 8 times this coming season and one of the games is a prime timer versus the Bronx Bastards.

Maple Street Press is coming out with it’s Mets Annual in a few weeks and there will be a section on the Mets Blogosphere, that will include yours truly.

Matt Silverman is putting out a revised paperback version of his book “100 Things Mets Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die” 

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Are the Mets married to the mob? A story in today’s NY Post links a bunch of companies that were hired by the Skill Sets to work on $iti Field that have unsavory connections. He can try all he wants, but Jeffey Wilpon will never be a “made man”.

Speaking of my buddy Jeffey, it looks like he is pushing hard to get the NHL Winter Classic for $iti Field next January. I am so on board with this idea that I am willing to burry the hatchet, (not in your back Jeffey, don’t worry) to promote this event at $iti Field any way I can. For the game to have any cache, it must have the NY Rangers in it of course, but who should be the Blueshirts opponent?  Forget about the Islanders or Devils being in it, although a three team playing each other over the Christmas/ New Years break with matinee games should be something the NHL looks to do but if you could over look the fact that I bleed Ranger Blue, no one cares enough about the Isles or Devils for them to make an attractive opponent for hockey fans outside the NYC limits. The other five of the Original 6 teams have already played in the classic and it seems the NHL kept the Rangers out if this series so they could host the NYC event so I’m looking at Rangers-Capitals in $iti Field on 1-1-11. The Great 8 vs. The Terrific 10. By the way, Highlander Stadium seems to be out of the running for this event as their management has decided to host a College Football Bowl game during the time it would take to build a rink in the ball park. Unless they are getting Notre Dame to play in that game, folks around here won’t give a rat’s ass about the game. Everyone will be in Flushing at the Winter Classic. Me and Jeffey doing our Blades of Glory routine YAAAA-HOOOO !!!!!!!!!!!!

So while most Mets fans await the Jason Bay coronation sometime this week , please wake me up when a pitcher of some major league magnitude shows up in Flushing.

Don’t forget I will be on with Frankie The Sports guy tonight on AM 1240 WGBB on Long Island and also on Blog Talk Radio. I’m scheduled to be on at 10:25 PM

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